Smokey Motel
7.31.21 | interview by Katie Hall
When you think of Oklahoma you probably aren’t thinking of it’s alt-rock scene but brothers Steven and Isaiah Carter of Smokey Motel might help change that perspective. I got to hang out with the band and talk a little with Steven after their show about everything from Kings of Leon to the ever-so-controversial hot dog/sandwich debate.
Keep on scrolling for more and be sure to check out the full photo gallery when you’re done!
Steven Carter - lead singer - all photos by Katie Hall
Where does the name Smokey Motel come from?
It actually came from The Kings of Leon Talihina Sky documentary. There was this one scene where they cover up all the smoke detectors and then smoke out their motel room on tour. And I thought that was the coolest thing. It was just like what I pictured tour to be like - like that kind of fun, like you just book a shitty motel room and smoke it out with your band.
What’s it like to be brothers in a band together?
It was something that we were kind of - we couldn’t not be in a band together. I don’t know, like, I can’t fire him you know what I mean? It’s cool though, it’s cool to have your brother pursuing the same dream and the same projects - it’s kind of great.
Who are your biggest influences as artists?
We’re all kind of everywhere - some of us like pop stuff, some of us like reggae, I like country-folk stuff. So I don’t know, it kind of comes from everywhere.
What’s it like being an indie group from Oklahoma?
Honestly whenever we started out it didn’t seem like there were that many indie groups. But within the last year I’m seeing more of them now so it’s pretty cool to see new young bands come up out of that scene in the same genre. But for us, I feel like it was what came out naturally.
Derrick “Rick” Porter - lead guitar
How did you guys get started and how have you evolved since then?
Isaiah Carter - drummer
Whenever we started this band we had just got off a 3 month tour with our older band - we were with that band for 7 years or so. [We] never found any success so like, I was ready for a change.
A change in sound, a change in image - just overall like, I knew what I wanted to do because I knew what we were doing at the time wasn’t working.
So at the time, we had an entirely different lineup besides me and my brother. And I told the guys, “this is what I want to do and this is how I want to do it” and they didn’t see the same vision as I did.
So ultimately, we got rid of them and then it was just me and my brother for the entire beginning of it and as we went along we found [more] members.
But we just didn’t wanna not do it because other people didn’t believe in it.
Because it was all about what we believed in - we believed that the vision would work and so far it has.
Do you ever struggle with performance anxiety and if so how do you deal with it?
So maybe at the beginning, like coming back from the pandemic, I was a little anxious but we’ve been doing it so long that it’s just kind of like - you get pre-show jitters but as soon as you get out there and you start playing it kind of all falls away.
You mentioned your album during the show - is there a release date for that?
There’s not a date yet - we just have a few things left to do. We have all the songs back, it's just a matter of all the business side to it that has to go into it before we release it. BUT we have all the stuff done, it’s just a matter of setting the date - pretty soon though.
If you could open for anybody who would it be and why?
It would definitely be Kings of Leon. They are the ones that influenced the name. They kind of influenced the dream for me in total because they have the same upbringing - they grew up in a small town in Oklahoma and made something of themselves.
What’s your most useless talent you have - like unrelated from being a musician?
I can do this thing where I can sound like a dog sniffing your ear.
Last but not least, heaviest question: where do you stand on the ‘is a hot dog a sandwich’ debate?
I feel like it’s the bread connecting that doesn’t make it a sandwich - but if it breaks then it’s a sandwich.
Britt Stewart - bass
